{"id":14305,"date":"2023-03-29T17:18:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T21:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=14305"},"modified":"2023-06-26T15:24:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T19:24:30","slug":"teaching-was-always-in-the-bottom-of-my-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/teaching-was-always-in-the-bottom-of-my-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTeaching was always in the bottom of my heart\u201d<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are several uses of the verb \u201cteach,\u201d the following are relative:  to accustom to some action or attitude; to impart the knowledge of; to instruct by precept, example, or experience; and to make known and accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the actions of Joyce Abbott<\/strong> (\u201983), a graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), a retired educator and United States Army combat veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Joyce Abbott, Retired Educator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cTeaching was always in the bottom of my heart,\u201d said Abbott, the daughter of a former teacher\u2019s aide. Abbott\u2019s mother reached the milestone of her 101st<\/sup> birthday earlier this month. \u201cI came from a very caring household. I did everything I had to do in school so there isn\u2019t one who sticks out in my early years,\u201d said Abbott regarding influential educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two individuals at UMES who \u201cstick out\u201d to Abbott, business and economics professor Dr. Abdalla and associate professor of music and director of the Soul Explosion Marching Band Rev. Kenneth A. Martin Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe went above and beyond to explain things. He believed that you could do this. He was very encouraging,\u201d she said about Abdalla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe used to get on us continually about doing the right thing. He taught us life lessons. He made sure we were on the right path and if he heard something was wrong, he got on you just like he was a parent,\u201d she said about Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philadelphia native researched in the library about HBCUs before deciding that UMES was the place for her. \u201cI really liked some things that I saw about Maryland Eastern Shore and I went down to visit and I really liked it,\u201c Abbott said. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration in 1983. During her time at UMES, she was a majorette in the Soul Explosion Marching Band.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Joyce Abbott at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1983 (J.T. Williams Hall in background).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After serving in the U.S. Army for a decade, 10 months of that period in combat during the Persian-Gulf War, Abbott entered one of the early cohorts of the \u201dTroops to Teachers\u201d program earning her master\u2019s degree in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing the youngest  of eight and most of my siblings went to college, I didn\u2019t even know if college was for me. As a result of going to UMES, it made you believe in yourself, the staff encouraged the student body and really wanted to see you succeed. It was a good foundation for the beginning of my professional career because if I had not been successful there, I would not have been successful anywhere else,\u201d Abbott said on the \u201cvery influential\u201c role of UMES in her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbott\u2019s career in classrooms in inner-city Philadelphia had great reach as her students have matriculated and moved on to careers including award-winning television production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dYour hard work, sacrifice, and passion is not going unnoticed,\u201d Abbott said about teaching and what she hopes people take away from her story. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to go unnoticed. To be impactful in the life of one child, you\u2019ve made a difference in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Quinta Brunson and Abbott when
she was a student in Abbott\u2019s sixth-grade class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Abbott\u2019s work in the classroom also reached outside the classroom as she and her students worked hard to organize a specific experience where her students traveled by limousine to an upscale restaurant in Philadelphia for a fine dining experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbott\u2019s work was noted by her sixth-grade student Quinta Brunson, daughter of an educator who went on to earn a following on social media for her comedy and content creation and is now the creator and star of the award-winning television series \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d on ABC Network. Brunson named the fictional public school in the tv series in honor of Abbott. Included among the multiple awards earned by \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d (ABC Network) is the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (2022), the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series- Musical or Comedy (2022), and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was shocked. I was humbly honored. It\u2019s beginning to really sink in. I don\u2019t think any teacher could imagine something like this because they pour in so much of their time and their life into their student population. To have something like this is really an honor,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Abbott surprised her former student, Quinta Brunson, during Brunson\u2019s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Providing advice to those who may be considering a career in education, Abbott says \u201cYou really have to have a passion for it. It\u2019s not about summers off with pay. It requires a lot of work and when you are truly passionate, it\u2019s really not looked at as work because it\u2019s your passion and you\u2019re determined to make a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recognition of Women\u2019s History Month, Abbott says her mother and a young Black first-year principal named Fatima Smith are among the ladies whom she holds in high regard and appreciates their influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbott retired last year after a career spanning nearly 30 years in education both in the classroom and in administration within Philadelphia schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Joyce Abbott and Jimmy Kimmel Live\/ABC Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This content is published in recognition and celebration of Women\u2019s History Month.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tahja Cropper <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are several uses of the verb \u201cteach,\u201d the following are relative:  to accustom to some action or attitude; to impart the knowledge of; to instruct by precept, example, or experience; and to make known and accepted. These are the actions of Joyce Abbott (\u201983), a graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES),…Read more \u201cTeaching was always in the bottom of my heart\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":14321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[71,69,45,67,68,70,44,48,72],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-14305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-abbott-elementary","tag-education","tag-hbcu","tag-joyce-abbott","tag-philadelphia","tag-teacher","tag-umes","tag-university-of-maryland-eastern-shore","tag-womens-history-month"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14305"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=14305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}